Denver and the West

Aurora theater shooting emergency response report at heart of hearing

Security camera at University of Colorado Hospital during the night of the Aurora Theater Shooting. The emergency team took in 23 patients that night. The majority came in police cars. (Photo provided by University of Colorado Hospital)

CENTENNIAL — Whether an outside review of Aurora's emergency response to the theater shooting two years ago should be released to the public was at the heart of a hearing Thursday in Arapahoe County District Court.

Attorneys for the city, defendant James Holmes and the prosecution made their cases before District Court Judge Stephen Collins.

Prosecutor Rich Orman said the report by TriData should remain sealed until after the trial. One of Holmes' public defenders, Katherine Spengler, said the report commissioned by the city should stay under wraps as well.

Attorney Carrie Johnson, an outside lawyer hired by the city of Aurora, wanted guidance either way.

Collins said he would review open records and criminal justice laws and issue a written decision.

Some information, including testimony during Holmes' preliminary hearing, already has been made public. But otherwise, there is a gag order in the case.

"I'm just not seeing anything that's not already out there," Collins told Orman as the prosecutor made his case to keep the report sealed.

The report, which cost $250,000, among other things examined why it took emergency medical workers 24 minutes to get inside the Century Aurora 16 movie theater in the early hours of July 20, 2012, when Holmes is accused of shooting and killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others.

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Police arrived at the scene within three minutes of the first reports of gunfire and began assisting the injured and transporting them to area hospitals.

"Certainly this is a criminal justice record," said Orman, who was not an official party to the hearing. "Our position is don't release a criminal justice record ... until the trial is over."

Spengler said the defense also objected to the release of the report because it would "violate Holmes' right to a fair trial."

Johnson noted that the city of Aurora was unable to determine whether the records should be withheld or released, saying Aurora's concerns centered on the public's right to obtain it but without compromising the criminal justice system. For that reason, the city sought guidance from the court.

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